Box broke TV, not bat, says Ponting

Australia captain Ricky Ponting said it was his box, employed to protect a batsman's most sensitive area, and not his bat which damaged a World Cup dressing room television set.

Ponting accepted an International Cricket Council reprimand after he reacted angrily to being run out in his team's 91-run win over Zimbabwe in Ahmedabad on Monday.

But he insisted on Thursday that the incident had been blown wildly out of proportion.

"Just to clarify, the television wasn't hit by me with my bat at all, it was hit by my box that I'd thrown down at the end of cricket kit," said Ponting, ahead of his team's clash against New Zealand on Friday.

"I'm not sure where a lot of those stories have come from but I have accepted what the ICC have come up with as far as a reprimand is concerned from the incident.

"There was some small damage to the TV set and I went and reported it to the team manager straight away. They actually replaced the television set there and then.

"Some of the stories I have been hearing the last couple of days have been a little bit different to what the list of events actually were.

"Hopefully we can put this all behind us and start worrying about a big game of cricket. There's a limit I guess (to how much) you can let off steam in a dressing room. It is a pretty sacred sort of place in international cricket.

"But there's a line you can't over-step. I accept responsibility for that happening, albeit by total accident and with no malice involved whatsoever.

"What's happened has happened, I'd like to be able to take it back but I can't."

The ICC said Wednesday that Ponting had accepted the charge under the code of conduct which relates to "abuse of cricket equipment or clothing, ground equipment or fixtures and fittings during an international match".

They had been contacted by the Indian cricket board following a complaint lodged by the Gujarat Cricket Association (GCA) despite Ponting having apologised.